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Reap the rewards of regular saving

Friday 12th May 2017

If I had a pound for every time I’m asked about the virtue of saving regularly, no matter how little, I’d have put each one in an ISA and I’d have quite a tidy sum by now.

Drip-feeding money into a savings account on a regular basis helps not only to develop a good habit but it also means your money benefits even more from compound interest – this is when you earn interest on your interest, so if you are also making regular deposits then each time the interest is calculated it will be on an even larger sum; it’s a bit like the snowball effect. Most savings accounts calculate interest on a daily basis and this is then capitalised annually.

If you choose to save your money in an ISA it’s best to start as early as possible in the tax year as your money will then have the whole year to reap the rewards of compound interest. This is particularly true if you do happen to have a nice chunk of money to put away.

You might think there’s no point in trying to save as you have very little to put away. But the point about saving is that, to borrow a supermarket’s line, every little helps.

It is worth putting any odd coins into a jar and then at the end of each month paying whatever is there into a savings account or ISA – and it will start earning interest. It’s better to do this than leave the money in the jar, as you will only ever have the total amount you’ve put in.

Admittedly, interest on savings accounts is currently disappointingly low but it’s still the better option and, depending on the type of account, it is possible to find a reasonable interest rate.

Vicky Curtis – Paraplanner

A version of this article originally appeared in the Isle of Wight County Press, Friday 12th May 2017